MILDRED — Dogs wear collars, but cows don’t. Or do they?
In pastures near Mildred they do, in a herd belonging to Loren and Regena Lance.
With a simple glance of her phone, Regena receives information on her cows’ location, discovering if they’re in pastures or under shade trees. Dots on the screen show locations of virtual fences and identify where cows may be going.
Bulls and calves aren’t collared, which leaves them on the outside looking in.
After first learning about the new technology, Regena’s curiosity was piqued. She did her research, finding videos from western Kansas that gave more detail to the high-tech wrangling. In those wide-open spaces out west, collar-controlling cattle might be easier than the slightly hilly and timbered farms of eastern Kansas, but she noticed nothing that discouraged her. Loren was onboard as well.
They obtained collars on a lease agreement and fitted them to 43 cows in June. The collars contain components that give cows a warning vibration when they approach a fence that exists only as a line on a phone or computer screen.
If the cow violates parameters of a virtual fence, she gets a very noticeable jolt that causes her to turn tail and scadaddle back to where it is safe to meander.
The collars have built-in receptors to dole out nudges and shocks, as well as a weight hanging from the bottom heavy enough to keep the collar perfectly situated around the cow’s neck.
In essence, they’re an enlarged version of those used to train and control dogs in much the same manner. Eventually 132 of their approximate 150 cows are likely to be so adorned.
The advantages are two-fold: They save time to devote to other interests, and the leap into technology also will prove a money-saving venture. The Lances intend to keep cows in smaller pastures, moving them whenever green grass wanes or goes dormant, as much did during hot weather. Many farmers and ranchers use the time-tested concept to get maximum use from pastures. They just rely on real, not digital, fences.
The contention is calves will gain an additional 35 pounds a year with use of the collars.
BUT DON’T think the Lances will just sit on the couch and shock cows all day. The couple plans to devote their extra time to another labor of love, the Mildred Store, which they purchased in 2014.
Charlie and Lucille Brown owned and operated the store for decades before age caught up with them. Now in charge, the Lances have their hands full with a busy deli and store. Monthly gatherings for local musicians and people seeking a nice, clean place to meet up with friends, hear some down-home music and maybe even shake a leg to two often bring around 150 people to the store.
Not bad for a town where the population is a dozen and a half or so. It’s a far cry from the days when the Mildred Cement Plant was running like a top and competing with Lehigh in Iola, Concreto north of Gas, Monarch in Humboldt and a few others in the vicinity. Now, just Monarch and Ash Grove of Chanute produce cement in all of Kansas.
REGENA LANCE is no stranger to beef cattle and the chores that go with making them productive.
When she was six weeks old, Dad Stan Rife assured wife Helen that taking the little girl on horseback to check on cattle was not going to harm her. Her experiences started there and haven’t let up since.
